Xfrog 4 plugin manua#C00B0 · 6 Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D 7 1.1 What's New The What's new section is intended for users of Xfrog 3.5 and earlier releases, as a list of the new features

Xfrog 4for CINEMA 4D

2 Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D 3

Reference ManualXfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D

Development Team

Timm Dapper Software

Bernd Lintermann Software

Jan Walter Schliep Tutorials

Andreas Kratky Reference Manual

Orio Menoni XfrogPlants Basic Library

Stewart McSherry Project Manager

Usage

Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D is a copyrighted work available as a 30 day demo and as a for-sale li-censed permanent version. Please note any intended use for any commercial purpose whatsoever, or any use beyond trial of the 30 day demo requires purchase of this software.

Liability

We hold no liability in the use or potential misuse of this software beyond prompt replacement of any faulty CD-ROM or other faulty material supplied by us to you.

Copyright Notice

The Xfrog 4 Reference Manual, along with the Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D plugin, XfrogPlants Basic Library and all associated electronic data, such as Textures, Rendered Images, Tutorials, Learning guides, are copyright (c) 2003 Lintermann und Deussen Gbr, Greenworks Organic Software, Grei-fenhagener Str. 9, 10627 Berlin, Germany, www.xfrog.com, all rights reserved, and these materi-als may not be reproduced without permission.

Please contact [email protected] with any inquiries.

This Reference Manual is version 1.00.3, created June 14 2003, by Andreas Kratky


Table of Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.1 Whats new. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.1.1 CINEMA 4D (Base) features include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.1.2 Improvements from Xfrog 3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.2.1 Where to find Xfrog 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.3 Migrating from Xfrog 3.5 to Xfrog 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.3.1 Interface Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.3.2 Objects Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.3.3 Modeling Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3.4 Animation Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2. Xfrog Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.1 Curve Parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.2 Xfrog Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.3 Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.4 Phyllotaxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2.5 Hydra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

2.6 Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

2.7 Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2.8 Tropism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

2.9 Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3. Xfrog 4 and CINEMA 4D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.1 Controlling Level Of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.2 Detail Editing of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

3.3 Using prefabricated Model parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4. Using Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50



1. IntroductionWelcome to the Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D.

Xfrog 4 adds new Objects to CINEMA 4D which allow you to model and animate or-ganic structures and processes, for example, Branching (most plants branch), Phyllotaxis (i.e. center spiral of a sunflower), Gravitropism (plants are usually pulled downward towards Earth), Phototropism (plants usually follow and grow towards sunlight). You will discover, that we have studied these natural processes and implemented our knowledge of them inside Xfrog 4.

All parameters in Xfrog 4 can be animated, and all Xfrog 4 Objects can be combined with all Objects in CINEMA 4D. You can create trees or other plants which grow, which respect sun and gravity; you can create leaves and branches which move in the wind, biological reactions taking place over time, architectural models which change over time, a large myri-ad of special effects possibilities, etc. All these things and more are possible now by combin-ing the features of Xfrog and CINEMA 4D.

In case you were wondering about the name "Xfrog" itself, it is an acronym: "X-windows based Finite Recursive Object Generator". Xfrog originated on SGI IRIX, and many artistic performances (realtime CAVE for example) of Xfrog have been achieved under IRIX.

As a side note, Xfrog is not related to fractals, or to strict mathematical approaches such as L-Systems. Xfrog is a unique approach to rep-resent natural processes in computer graphics.

Since you have now an understanding of what Xfrog is designed to do, and how it fits into your kit of tools, we would like to give you a little idea of what the existing customers of

Xfrog are currently using it for. Here are a few common uses:

• Creation of trees, flowers, many other types of vegetation. We ourselves have released 1000 models in 17 XfrogPlants libraries.

• Combinations of plant models to create ul-tra-realistic and also many fanciful landscapes

• Creation of unlimited unique special effects for film and video. Disney Imagineering, ILM, Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks, Pixar, all have Xfrog and chances are you have or you will soon see models and effects recognizable as Xfrog.

• Construction of experimental architectural models: iterative, organic, evolving over and through time and space (e.g. see the film "Mu-raya").

• Construction of micro-organism structural and locomotion studies, for research and edu-cational microbiology.


1.1 What's New

The What's new section is intended for users of Xfrog 3.5 and earlier releases, as a list of the new features available in Xfrog 4. It is also intended for the existing users of CINEMA 4D to see what is added by installation of Xfrog 4. The features here are simply a list of what is available and more information follows in-side this reference manual and also inside the CINEMA 4D reference manual.

1.1.1 CINEMA 4D (Base) features include • PC and Mac availability• Customizable user interface• Multiple viewports• Multiple cameras• Level Of Detail• Customizable toolbars and shortcuts• Software and Hardware Shading• Additional export formats• Display measurement units• Library browser• Additional primitives• Interactive editing• HyperNURBS modeling• Complex lighting• Multiple spline types• Text tools• Boolean operations• Metaballs• Particle systems• Deformers• Bones• Floor, sky and environment objects• Audio

• Elaborate transformation tools• Inverse and multi target kinematics• Polygonal modeling• Many plugins available• Rendering including raytracing• Advanced materials and shaders• Extended animation featuresMany additional features are available with additional modules from Maxon, such as Ra-diosity and HDRI (Advanced Render Module) and complex particle system control (Thinking Particles Module).

1.1.2Xfrog 4 Improvements vs. Xfrog 3.5• Time units - mins, secs, frames• Multi-track animation • Soft Insert animation feature; removes "popping"• Phyllotaxis (Phiball) can place objects on any Surface of Revolution• Phyllotaxis now allows direct control of the orientation of multiplied objects• Branch Object combines the power of the Tree, Leaf and Horn Components• Branch Object mesh resolution is independ- ent from number of branches• Branch Object can now generate several branches per node• Curve Control now uses spline curves to control parameters and allows for much better control• Any CINEMA 4D spline can control Xfrog Objects even text splines• Curvature Spline offers controls similar to the Xfrog 3.5 Horn Component, while being more flexible• Hydra offers more control


• New Variation Object allows exceptions in the iterations of multiplier Objects• Level Of Detail offers more control

1.2 Where to find Xfrog 4You will find elements of it in the following places inside CINEMA 4D:

• Parameters for the import of models from previous Xfrog versions are located in the Preferences dialogue of the Edit menu in the section "Import/Export".• All Xfrog 4 Objects are accessible in the Plugins menu in the Xfrog section. A toolbar with these objects can be used.• The Xfrog 4 Objects are linked to a model hierarchy in the "Object Manager"• All parameters of Xfrog 4 Objects are access- sible in the "Attributes Manager"

1.3 Migrating from Xfrog 3.5 to Xfrog 4

Xfrog 4 is a plugin that integrates seamlessly into CINEMA 4D. This is an answer to the de-mand for integration of Xfrog into popular 3D software. We chose to port to CINEMA 4D first, because of the strong performance/price ratio of the CINEMA 4D base product, and the open architecture which allowed easy de-velopment of Xfrog 4 as a plugin for CINEMA 4D. As well we were able to establish a good relationship with MAXON Computer and offer sidegrade and upgrade pricing to our existing Xfrog users. This was a compelling reason to work together.

In any event, this new plugin approach gives the existing Xfrog 3.5 user a powerful new ani-mation and rendering system, as well as many new abilities not possible with Xfrog 3.5. To the existing CINEMA 4D user, we bring organic modeling and animation capabilities as new Objects, which are seamlessly integrated into CINEMA 4D workflow.

This new plugin approach has produced sev-eral changes in the interface compared to previous versions of Xfrog. To familiarize you with these changes and make the transition easy we provide this Migration Guide. You will probably discover that the fundamental Xfrog workflow has not greatly changed and you will quickly get used to the new environ-ment. However, the adaptation to both a new Xfrog and possibly a new 3D software package (CINEMA 4D) is quite a bit to absorb. But we decided the best possibility is to provide you with a flexible application that will be able to fulfill your growing demands now and in the future. The new version offers many more fea-


tures and more flexibility of use. The downside is that at the current time while we are doing our very best to solve all downward-compat-ibility issues the Importer may have problems with some XfrogPlants models. This is because XfrogPlants models often make use of tricky workarounds because of limitations in former Xfrog versions. We are continuing our efforts to improve the XFR Importer. In the meantime we recommend that you use the .c4d files included on all XfrogPlants CDs and in the XfrogPlants Basic Library of 60 Trees supplied with the Xfrog 4 CDs.

1.3.1 Interface ChangesThe elements of the interface and their func-tions remain the same, what has changed are the names and their placement. The following images illustrate what the changes in Xfrog 4.

Model View

3D View

ObjectManager

HierarchyEditor

LibrariesWindow

Animation Editor

ParameterEditor

Toolbar

AttributeManagerTime Manager


1.3.2 Object ChangesThe Xfrog Components are now CINEMA 4D Objects, in order to better fit into the CIN-EMA 4D naming convention. The separation of Xfrog Components and Primitives has been removed. They are all implemented as Objects in CINEMA 4D.

The Tree Component, the Horn Component and the Leaf Component in Xfrog 3.5 had a very similar architecture, so we decided to integrate them into one single Object, the Branch Object. Perhaps you have had the de-sire to use a function assigned to a slider in the Horn Component, inside the Tree Compo-nent – this is now possible. The integration of the three Components into one provides much more flexibility.

The PhiBall Component has become the Phyl-lotaxis Object. We added some functionality and decided to call the Object by its botanical name. The Pyllotaxis Object still generates a spatial distribution of Objects according to the golden section but now you have the possibil-ity to use any kind of Surface of Revolution as basis for the distribution. It is also possible to influence the orientation of the Objects on the Surface of Revolution.

The Hydra Component and Wreath Compo-nent are now integrated together as the Hydra Object, which has the functionality of both Components.

The Hyper Patch Component is replaced by the CINEMA 4D FFD Object, which actually has the same functionality as the Xfrog HyperPatch Component.

The Variation Object, which is new to Xfrog 4, allows the use of different geometric objects with the same multiplier object. You can have them alternate regularly, randomly or you can assign exceptions for specific positions.

In CINEMA 4D a lot of definitions are made with use of splines, so we transformed the Range Definitions that you know from previ-ous Xfrog versions such as the Horn Object curvature into the Curvature Spline Object. It can be combined with all Xfrog or CINEMA 4D Objects.

Similarly we made Tropisms available as an in-dependent Object, the Tropism Object. It can be used with any Xfrog or CINEMA 4D Spline Object.

Detailed information for all the Xfrog 4 Ob-jects is available in the Object descriptions in this manual. More information about the FFD Object can be found in the CINEMA 4D docu-mentation (Chapter 7.11.6).


1.3.3 Modeling ChangesThe method of setting up your model hierar-chy is basically the same. As you have seen in the overview of the interface changes the link-ing of Objects (Components) is now carried out in the CINEMA 4D Object Manager.

Xfrog Objects are created by selecting the name from the "Plugins/Xfrog 4" menu or by clicking on the corresponding icon on the Xfrog 4 Toolbar. The new Object appears at the very top of the Object Manager. From here you can drag it and link it to the hierarchy. If the newly created Object generates geometry it will immediately be visible, as if – in previous Xfrog versions – it were linked to the Camera Component.

The Xfrog Objects used to multiply geometry have a nested subhierarchy. This subhierarchy is used to assign certain input objects: The Ob-jects that are iterated by the Multiplier Object are linked to the Multiplier as a subhierachy. As an example let us look at the Hydra Object multiplying a Cube. The Cube Object is linked as a child to the Hydra Object.

The subhierarchy can be opened and collapsed by clicking the plus or minus sign in front of the Object name.

Let us have a look at another example: Linking two Branch Objects together in order to build a tree. The first step is to create two Branch Objects which will appear at the top of the Object Manager. They are both at the same level in the hierarchy and the geometry they generate fall into exactly the same place so that you will only see one trunk. Now click the plus sign in front of the first Branch Object to

expand the subhierarchy of this Object. You will see two Spline Objects defining the cross-section and the curvature of the trunk. At the third position in this subhierarchy you will need to link the second Branch Object to make it a new branching level. To connect an Ob-ject to the third position you drag the second Branch Object towards the second position oc-cupied by the Spline. When the Branch Object is floating over the Spline name you will notice the cursor changing into an arrow pointing downwards.

When you move the Branch Object a bit fur-ther down below the Spline name the cursor will change to an arrow pointing to the left.

Now release the mouse button and the Branch Object will be linked in the third position cre-ating the branches. The procedure of defining links is a bit different now and you have to try it a few times to get comfortable. By the way: If you released the mouse button when the cursor arrow points downwards you would have linked the Branch Object as a child of the Spline Object which does not create any mean-ingful output in our example.

For more information on this linking process you may wish to read the CINEMA 4D manual chapter 17 titled "Object Manager".


1.3.4 Animation ChangesA lot of changes have occurred in the way you create your animations. Now you can use the elaborate animation tools that come with CIN-EMA 4D to animate your Xfrog models. Every parameter can be animated independently us-ing multiple tracks, and with the F-Curves you can influence the interpolation between differ-ent keys. A detailed documentation of how to use F-Curves can be found in the CINEMA 4D manual chapter 20 entitled "F-Curves". The ba-sic tools to set up an animation are available in the Time Manger below the 3D View.

To give you a brief overview of how to use the animation capabilities we will look at two examples: A growth animation of a tree and an animation of a trees curvature. Based on the previous example in which you linked two Branch Objects we will have a look at the Growth parameter of the first Branch Object, the trunk of your tree.

By default the time slider at the far left of the Time Manager is set to frame number 0. With this slider you can scrub through the anima-tion. The default position will let you access the beginning of the animation.

In order to create an animation of the growth of the tree you need to access the parameters of the first Branch Object. In the Object Man-ager select the first Branch Object by clicking on its name.

In the Object Properties (displayed in the At-tribute Manager) of the first Branch Object locate the "Growth" parameter and set the parameter value to 0%. The tree is now scaled down to zero.

Make a right-click on the parameter name. In the menu that pops up, select "Animation/Add Keyframe". This automatically adds the first Branch Object to the list of Objects that are part of the animation and adds a track for the "Growth" parameter. The first key is set and the parameter value stored in this key.

Now move the time slider to the far right of the Time Manager to define the end of the animation.

Set the "Growth" parameter to 100% and add another keyframe using the same method.

To view the animation you just created you can click the Play button (the green triangle in the Time Manager).

The animation of the path spline (second posi-tion of the subhierarchy) works in a very simi-lar way. First make sure that the Timeline is visible. You can either invoke the Timeline Win-dow by selecting "Timeline" from the "Window" menu or by selecting "Animation" from the "Layout" submenu of the "Window" menu.

When you continue with the animation that you just created, you will see the following in the Timeline Window:


To animate the curvature of the tree you need to select the second position in the subhierar-chy of the first Branch Object, which is occu-pied by a Spline Object defining the curvature of the Branch Object.

For this animation you will have to deal with the control points of the Spline Object. There-for you need to activate the PLA (Point Level Animation) mode that allows keyframing of the changes made to the control points by clicking the orange button with a key icon (look to the immediate right of the full orange button below) .

Select "Points" from the "Tools" menu to switch to the tool that allows you to edit the control points of the Spline Object. For easier viewing you can set the display mode of the 3D View Window to "Isoparms" in the Display menu in-side the 3D View Window.

In the Timeline Window bring up the "File" menu and select "New Track" and "PLA". This creates a new track to record the control point changes. In order to see this new track in the Timeline Window you can click the plus sign in front of the Branch objects representation.

Move the timeslider to the far left. Hold down the Ctrl key and left-click at the far left of the PLA track to set the first key on this track. Then do the same for the last key of the track. So far no changes have been made to the point structure and nothing changes compared to the previous animation.

Move the timeslider to a frame somewhere in the middle of the animation, e.g. frame 60. As you switched to the Isoparm display mode you can see the three control points of the Spline Object. Select the point in the middle of the Spline Object and drag it to the side. Then again Ctrl left-click on the PLA track to create an intermediate key.

When you play the animation you will see your tree bending sideways while it is growing.


2 Xfrog Reference2.1 Curve ParameterIn addition to the control widgets that you know from CINEMA 4D (see section 1.6) Xfrog 4 uses a widget called Curve Parameter. This control provides a curve defining a range of different values. It is used with parameters such as the thickness of a Branch Object (see below).

By default this curve has one point on the left representing the value of the first iteration and a second point on the right representing the value of the last iteration of the Object. The intermediate values are interpolated. New control points can be inserted by right-clicking on the curve at the place where the new con-trol point is to be inserted and selecting "Insert New Control Point" from the context menu. Right-clicking an existing control point gives you the option to delete the point. When you click at points while holding down the shift key you can select several points at the same time, move them and delete them.

With the command "Bake Function" in the context menu it is possible to translate an as-signed mathematical function into the result-ing curve. After this the curve can be edited, new control points can be inserted etc. The possibility of changing the mathematical func-tion itself is not available anymore after baking it.

Furthermore the context menu allows you to switch the interpolation characteristic between the control points from either a smooth (Clas-sic) to a linear (Linear) interpolation.

Finally the context menu allows to change the limits of the display of the curve. It is possible to select between fixed limits, limiting the dis-

play to the currently visible range; further it is possible to select between modes that adapt the displayed range of the curve according to the max, the min, or both values.

By right-clicking the parameter name you can access the subchannels ("Show Subchannels") of the parameter. The subchannels allow ac-cess to every parameter numerically (for fur-ther info, please see the CINEMA 4D manual). In the case of the curve control the subchan-nels give access to the X/Y coordinates of every control point of the curve as well. More infor-mation on possible functions that can be used with a curve control is available in chapter 4 "Using Functions" of this manual.


As an example of how to use the subchannels, the following paragraph shows the Thickness parameter of the Branch Object.

Thickness.Max

Thickness.Max lets you define a maximum val-ue for the curve display in the control.

Thickness.Min

Thickness.Min lets you define a minimum value display of the Thickness curve.

Thickness.Function

This subchannel of Thickness allows to assign a function to the Thickness curve. This function uses the control points of the curve as input values to calculate the actual output values. By default this parameter is set to id (identity) using the Thickness curve as-is to calculate the Branch Objects contour. It is possible to use other mathematical function instead of id to achieve different shapes or effects. For more information on the usage of functions refer to the chapter 4, "Using Functions".

Thickness.Start Y

A Thickness subchannel defining the first point of the Thickness curve. Since this point is the beginning of the curve it only has one coor-dinate, the Y coordinate. The X coordinate is always zero.

Thickness.End Y

A Thickness subchannel defining the last point of the Thickness curve. Since this point is the ending of the curve it only has one coordinate, the Y coordinate. The X coordinate is always one.

Thickness.[1] X

When the Thickness curve has more control points than the first and the last one this pa-rameter allows you to specify the X coordinate of intermediate points.

Thickness.[1] Y

This parameter allows you to specify the values for the Y coordinate of intermediate control points of the Thickness curve.


2.2 Xfrog ToolbarThe Xfrog Toolbar gives direct access to the Xfrog Objects. It is available via "Plugins/Xfrog 4/Create Toolbar".

2.3 Branch

The Branch creates – not really surprisingly – branching structures. One Branch on its own looks in its default shape like a conical horn that could remind you of a trunk. This shape is achieved through the multiplication of a cross-section spline (by default a circle) which are connected to form a hull. The segments are by default continuously scaled down until the last segment is ending in a point.

Linking several Branch together creates a tree structure with several branching levels. Each Object represents one branching level.


In order to create subsequent branching lev-els the Branch Objects need to be linked in a specific hierarchy. The Branch Object expects a number of different Objects linked to it, similar to the C4D Sweep NURBS Object. The different positions in the subhierarchy are reserved in the following way:

The first position in the subhierarchy contains the Object that is multiplied by the Branch Ob-ject and is arranged in the characteristic coni-cal shape. This position can be occupied by dif-ferent Objects.

The Circle can be made editable by selecting "Make Editable" from the Edit menu in order to deform the profile.

By inserting other Objects at the first position of the Branch Object subhierarchy it is possible to multiply cubes or any other object along the Branch Object. The amount of multiplied in-

stances can be controlled through the Number parameter of the spline in the second position of the Branch Objects subhierarchy. This pa-rameter defines the amount of intermediate points for this spline.

The second position in the Branch Object's subhierarchy contains a spline that defines the shape of the trunk or the branches. By editing the control points of this Spline the shape of the Branch Object can be influenced.

The third position in the Branch Object subhi-erarchy contains the Object that is multiplied along the trunk or branch. New instances of this object are generated at the branching nodes along the Branch Object. Connecting another Branch Object creates a new branch-ing level with smaller branches coming out of the trunk or the branches of the previous


branching level. Other objects like a Cube Ob-ject connected to the third position would cre-ate cubes instead of branches:

The fourth position in the Branch Object subhi-erarchy is reserved for the Object that is linked to the end of the Branch Object. This creates for example a possibility to put a leaf at the end of a branch, or using the Branch Object to create a stem of a flower, this would be the place where the blossom needs to be linked to appear at the end of the stem.

In certain cases you might want to create an object only at the end of the Branch Object. In this case you can link a single Null Object in the third place of the Branch Objects subhier-archy to access the fourth place of the subhi-erarchy.

It is also possible to create more than one ob-ject in the same position of the Branch Object subhierarchy. This hierarchy must be linked to a Null Object which forms a nested subhierar-chy. This can be used to multiply several Ob-jects along the same Branch Object. You might need to transform the Objects linked to the Null Object in order to make them visible (by default they are all generated in the same loca-tion with the same orientation).


Object Properties

Thickness

The Thickness parameter is controlled with a Curve Parameter. This control provides a curve defining the thickness of the Branch Object. It defines a scaling factor for the segments that are multiplied along the Branch Object. The curve represents the length of the Branch Ob-ject. More information about the Curve Param-eter widget is available in chapter "2.1 Curve Parameter" at the beginning of this manual.

It is also possible to define the thickness of a Branch Object by editing the Radius of the

Spline at the first position in the Branch Ob-jects subhierarchy. In this setting the thickness information is not transmitted to the subse-quent Branch Object in the hierarchy. Thus the subsequent branches do not react to the thick-ness of their parent Branch Object.

Inherit Thickness

This option checked, which is the default set-ting, specifies that the thickness parameter from the parent Branch Object is inherited by the selected Branch Object. This setting makes sure that the thickness of all instances of the selected Branch Object are adjusted to match the thickness of the previous Branch Object.

When this parameter is not checked the in-stances of the subsequent Branch Object all have their default thickness.

Growth

The Growth parameter allows you to specify different degrees of growth between 0% and 100%. It is basically a scaling factor that influ-ences the length of branches.

When several Branch Objects are linked to-gether in order to create several branching levels of a tree the subsequent branches need to match the thickness of the branch or trunk they are connected to. This means that the subsequent instances of the Branch Objects have to be scaled according to their placement


relative to the previous Branch Object. For this purpose a scaling factor is passed from one Branch Object to the next, controlling the size of the different instances.

The growth parameter also provides you with an easy way to animate the growth of a tree. It is basically a scaling factor that allows you to gradually change the size of a Branch Object between 0% and 100%. By default this pa-rameter is set to 100%. This would represent a fully grown tree. This parameter being trans-ferred through the model hierarchy allows you to animate the growth of the trunk (the first Branch Object) from 0% to 100% with all branching levels of the tree being scaled ac-cordingly. This creates the impression that the tree actually grows and branches develop and grow over time.

Inherit Growth

This option checked, which is the default set-ting, specifies that the growth parameter from the parent Branch Object is inherited by the selected Branch Object. This setting makes sure that the length of all instances of the selected Branch Object are adjusted to match the size of the previous Branch Object.

When this parameter is not checked the in-stances of the subsequent Branch Object all have their default length no matter where they are placed.

Iso Subdivision

This parameter specifies the way the Branch Object is displayed when the display mode is set to Isoparms.


Nodes Properties

Node Presets

This pull-down menu provides a number of presets that reflect structures of branch and leave arrangements commonly found in nature. The specific arrangement is in many cases characteristic for a certain species. The presets only provide an easy access to constellations of the parameter like Screw etc. These parameters can also be freely defined

with the controls of the Branch Object. In the case of a free definition that is not one of the presets the Node Preset menu will switch to "Custom". The following passage will give you an overview over the different presets. Three parameters of the Branch Object are influenced by the Node Presets: Screw, Flap and Node Multiplicity. When at least one of these parameters is changed manually the preset will change to Custom. One example: The Node Multiplicity parameter is normally set to 1 but with all presets for pair arrangements, this parameter is automatically set to 2. For a closer look at the parameter changes you can have a look at the subchannels of the corresponding parameters.

Perpendicular

Defines how the multiplied instances are ar-ranged along the parent Branch Object. The instances are connected in a freely spread manner around the parent Object. Their orien-tation is perpendicular to the axis of the par-ent Branch Object.


Alternate Perpendicular

Arranges the multiplied instances along the two sides of the parent Branch Object. The arrangement is alternating so that the first instance is created on one side and the next instance on the other side. The orientation is again perpendicular to the axis of the parent Branch Object.

Pair Perpendicular

Arranges the multiplied instances along the two sides of the parent Branch Object. The ar-rangement is paired so that two instances are always created at both sides. The orientation is perpendicular to the axis of the parent Branch Object.

Lateral

Arranges the multiplied instances along the parent Branch Object in a freely spread man-ner around it. The instances are oriented paral-lel to the axis of the parent Branch Object.

Alternate Lateral

Arranges the multiplied instances along the two sides of the parent Branch Object. The ar-rangement is paired so that two instances are always created at both sides. The orientation is parallel to the axis of the parent Branch Ob-ject.


Pair Lateral

Arranges the multiplied instances along the two sides of the parent Branch Object. The ar-rangement is paired so that two instances are always created at both sides. The orientation is parallel to the axis of the parent Branch Ob-ject.

Nodes

When the active Branch Object is linked to an-other Branch component as its successor (or child Object) it is multiplied along the previous Branch Object (the parent Object). With the Nodes parameter you can specify the number of instances that are created by this multiplica-tion.

Inherit Density

When this option is checked, the Branch Ob-ject inherits the Density parameter from its parent Branch Object (see also the description of the Node Density parameter).

Node Multiplicity

In order to multiply and arrange its subse-quent objects the Branch Object generates along itself a number of nodes where the iter-ated instances are created. By default it pro-duces only one instance in each node but by setting the Node Multiplicity parameter to a higher value it is possible to create more in-stances in each node.


Node Angle

Defines whether a branch is coming out of previous Branch Object in a shallow or steep angle. The inclination of the iterated branches is defined in respect to the previous Branch Object. The curve displays the values over the length of the parent Object.

Node Flap

Rotates the branches around their longitudinal axis. The curve represents the values for the different iterations along the parent Branch Object.

Node Distribution

Specifies the distribution of branches along the parent Branch Object. The curve defines a statistical function that distributes the number of branches specified in the Number parame-ter according to the max and min of the curve.

A maximum creates a dense distribution of branches while in relation to this the minima receive a loose distribution. This function is only statistical which means that a linear curve always produces an equal distribution no mat-ter how high the values of the curve are. The actual amount of instances is not influenced by the Node Distribution curve.

Node Scale

Defines a general scaling factor for the differ-ent multiplications of the branches. It might happen that with higher values for the Node Scale, branches can actually exceed the thick-ness of their parent Object.


Node Screw

Rotates the nodes around the axis of the Branch Object. The curve represents the values for the different iterations along the parent Branch Object.

Node Growth

This parameter defines a growth factor for the different multiplications of the branches which is similar to the Growth parameter of the Ob-ject properties. The thickness of the branches is still determined by the Growth parameter inherited from the previous Branch Object. The Growth Scale mainly influences the length of the branches. The curve displays the values over the length of the parent Object.

Node Density

This parameter controls how many branches are produced by the Object linked to the cur-rently selected Object. The effect may appear somewhat unintuitive but you will quickly no-tice it's usefulness. Imagine you are applying the Node Density parameter to the trunk of a tree. You can specify for example that your tree will have many branches at the top, mak-ing for a complex crown. For other species it might be desirable to concentrate most of the branches in the lower part of the tree – you have one easy control to define these charac-teristics.


Tip:

In CINEMA automatically generated Texture Coordinates are usually created so that the tex-ture origin is somehow in the upper left. The Branch Object‘s y Texture Coordinate has it‘s origin at the bottom. This may seem counter-intuitive at first, because textures will appear bottom up when first applied. You can correct this by setting Y Texture Scale of the Texture tag to a negative value. This has been done because it may happen that in growth anima-tions the object can „grow through texture space, either when using the „Growth“ Param-eter or by hand animating the Texture Scale. Usually for plants the origin of a branch is the place where you would wish the texture to be attached to, which would not automatically be the case for the texture coordinate origin be-ing at the top. This behaviour is similar to the behavious of the Sweep Nurbs Object.


Similar to the Branch Object the positions in the subhierarchy are fulfilling specific func-tions:

The first position in the subhierarchy is occu-pied by the Spline defining the surface of revo-lution. To create many different kinds of sur-faces of revolution any Spline can be assigned.

By default this Spline is an Arc. The Arc defines the shape of the sphere. It also specifies the area of the spherical surface that is covered by iterated instances.

The second position in the subhierarchy con-tains the Object that is multiplied by the Phyl-lotaxis Object. This can be any CINEMA 4D Object. It is also possible to create a nested subhierarchy at this position.

2.4 Phyllotaxis

The Phyllotaxis Object distributes Objects on arbitrary surfaces of revolution. Its name comes from the botanical term "phyllotaxis". It describs the arrangement of plant organs, such as seeds in a flower.

Some examples of phyllotaxis

By default it multiplies an Objects that is linked to it and distributes on the surface of a sphere.

The Object provides a number of parameters that control this arrangement so that the Ob-ject is useful for many different structures that are based on a spatial distribution on a surface of revolution.


Object Properties

Number

Specifies the number of instances of the multi-plied Object to be created.

Soft Insert

This option is important for the animation of a Phyllotaxis Object. When the Number param-eter changes over time the new instances are "faded in" or existing instances are "faded out". This means that new instances are smoothly scaled from zero to their full size when they are inserted and scaled down from their nor-mal size to zero when they are removed.

When the Soft Insert option is disabled new in-stances pop in at their full size or existing ones are removed instantly.

Screw

Defines the arrangement of the iterated in-stances on the spherical surface. By default the instances are arranged according to the golden section that can often be found in Na-ture. The Angle parameter specifies a rotation angle in relation to the center point of the Phyllotaxis. The leftmost point corresponds to the first iteration and the rightmost point to the last iteration.

Scale

This parameter allows you to specify a scaling factor for the multiplied instances. The left-most point corresponds to the first instance-and the rightmost point to the last instance.


Use Spline Orientation

This checkbox determines whether the orien-tation of the instances follows the tangent of the spline describing the outline of the base shape or not. When it is unchecked and the instances are not set to follow the Spline the Orientation parameter is available. In the other case this parameter is greyed out.

Orientation

Specifies a rotation value for the instances. The leftmost point corresponds to the first instance and the rightmost point to the last instance.

Influence

Specifies how strongly the position of the it-erated instances are influenced by their size. When, for example, the first instances are scaled down and the others remain at their initial size the surface appears more packed in the area where the big instances are, whereas in the other part holes seem to appear. When the Influence parameter is set to a higher value this unevenness can be reduced and the bigger instances are pushed towards the smaller ones in order to create an even density over the sur-face. Setting the Influence parameter to 1 cor-responds to full influence, whereas 0 disables the influence.


Level Of Detail

The Level Of Detail pull-down menu allows you to define the way in which the complexity management is handled. The following options are offered:

None

Disables the influence of CINEMA 4D's com-plexity management on the selected Phyllo-taxis Object.

Drop & Resize

Xfrog 4 Objects have their own LOD algo-rithms which analyze the geometry and reduce the resolution without changing the overall shape of the Object. The resolution is reduced by reducing the number of instances while en-larging the remaining ones. This ensures that the overall coverage is maintained and the

model does not appear to be "thinned out". The Drop & Resize option enables this complex-ity management.

Minimum Number

Allows you to specify a minimum amount of instances.

Weight

Allows you to specify how strong the remain-ing elements will be enlarged. This parameter set to 1 will result in a direct mapping: Half of the elements are removed and the remaining ones are doubled in their size. The parameter set to 0 disables the scaling. The default value is 0.6 which delivers the best results for most cases.


2.5 Hydra

An Object linked to the Hydra Object is multi-plied and distributed in a circle.

The Object that is multiplied needs to be linked to the first position of the subhierarchy of the Hydra Object.

The Hydra Object can multiply any object, for example also other Xfrog Objects:

Object Properties

Number

Specifies the amount of instances that are cre-ated of the multiplied Object.

Soft Insert

This option is important for the animation of a Phyllotaxis Object. When the Number param-


eter changes over time the new instances are "faded in" or existing instances are "faded out". This means that new instances are smoothly scaled from zero to their full size when they are inserted and scaled down from their nor-mal size to zero when they are removed.


Radius

Specifies the radius of the circle the instances are arranged on.

Fan

Defines the segment of the circle that is occu-pied by instances. The Fan parameter defines the degree of rotation around the X-axis of the Hydra Object. The leftmost point corresponds to the first instance and the rightmost point to the last instance. The intermediate values are interpolated. Additional control points can be inserted by right-clicking the curve.

Twist

Specifies a degree of rotation around the Z-axis of the Hydra Object. The leftmost point corresponds to the first iteration and the right-most point to the last iteration.

Application Order

There is a slight change in the behavior of the Twist parameter from the previous versions of Xfrog to Xfrog 4. The Application Order parameter allows you to switch between the two behaviors. The Standard behaviour creates more predictable results while the Classic be-haviour is maintained for backwards compat-ibility. In some cases when you are importing models that were created in a previous version of Xfrog you might want to use the Classic be-haviour.


Spin

Specifies a rotation of the instances around their local longitudinal axis. The leftmost point corresponds to the first instance and the right-most point to the last instance.

Scale

Specifies a scaling factor for the instances. The leftmost point corresponds to the first instance and the rightmost point to the last instance.

2.6 Curvature

The Curvature Object is a Spline Object. The difference to other splines, is that it is neither explicitly defined (like Text or Circle Splines) nor defined by moving and inserting control points, as its definition is implicit. With the Curvature Objects parameters the curvature along the spline is defined.The curved spline is created step by step and for each of these steps a rotation and translation is defined. Mathematical functions can also be used to in-fluence curvature.

The Curvature Object can be used with any Xfrog or CINEMA 4D Object that can use a Spline. One example would be the use togeth-er with the Branch Object as shown in the fol-lowing model hierarchy:

The above hierarchy is equivalent to the former Horn Component of previous Xfrog versions.


Object Properties

Rotation X

Defines the rotation around the X-axis for the segments the Curvature Spline consists of. The beginning of the curve corresponds to the beginning of the Spline, the end of the curve corresponds to the end. Example: If the curve is set to a value of 180 degrees over its whole

length each segment is curved so that over its whole length the Spline it bends 180 degrees.

Rotation Y

Similar to Rotation X but applied to the X-axis.

Rotation Z

Similar to Rotation X but applied to the Z-axis.

Translation X

Defines a tranlation (move) along the X-axis of each spline segment the Curvature Object consists of. The beginning of the curve corre-sponds to the beginning of the spline, the end of the curve corresponds to the end. Example: A constant value of 2000 meters means that each segment is moved so that over the whole length of the spline the segments add up to a distance of 2000 meter.

Translation Y

Similar to Translation X but applied to the Y-axis.

Translation Z

Similar to Translation X but applied to the Z-axis.

Length Scale

Defines a scaling factor for the length of the segments of the spline.

Step Scale

This parameter allows you to specify an ad-ditional factor for the length and angle of the spline segments. The observation that led us to implement this parameter is coming from the natural growth processes of plants. As an ex-ample you may think of a growing leaf: In the beginning the leaf is very small and has only a light curvature. As it grows it does not only get longer, also the curvature gets more accentu-ated. The Move Scale parameter lets you grad-


ually apply this characteristic to your model. When the parameter is increased it makes the individual spline segements of the Curvature Object longer and the angle between the dif-ferent segments steeper. This behaviour simu-lates the described natural phenomenon.

Branch Object with a Curvature Spline in dif-ferent Step Scale stages (Step Scale 0.3, Step Scale 1.0, Step Scale 1.6)

Segments

Defines the amount of spline segments the Curvature Object consists of. This parameter determines the shape of the Curvature Spline. The more segments are used for the defini-tion, the smoother the resulting curves will be. However, the amount of segments should be kept as low as possible because the option to apply a Cubic Interpolation to the Spline offers a much more efficient way to create a smoothly curved Spline. The Segments param-eter should really be regarded as a modeling parameter used to define the actual shape of the Spline.

In this sense it is also not useful to apply a Level Of Detail management to the Segments parameter, as this may influence the shape of the curve. For Level Of Detail management it is better to control the way how intermediate points are generated and in which density (see parameters "Intermediate Points, Number, An-gle").

Branch Object with a Curvature Spline consist-ing of 4 Segments.

Branch Object with a Curvature Spline consist-ing of 4 Segments and Cubic Interpolation.

Branch Object with a Curvature Spline consist-ing of 20 Segments without Cubic Interpola-tion. The curve is slightly different than above, although the Spline parameters are the same.

Soft Insert

This option is important for the animation of a Phyllotaxis Object. When the Number param-eter changes over time the new instances are "faded in" or existing instances are "faded out". This means that new instances are smoothly scaled from zero to their full size when they are inserted and scaled down from their nor-mal size to zero when they are removed.



Cubic Interpolation

This option creates a smooth curving of the Spline even if the amount of Segments is very low. The smoothing is achieved by inserting additional intermediate values, that are cal-culated with an interpolation algorithm, bet-ween the existing points defining the curve. For illustration please view the images in the description of the Segments parameter on the previous page.

Intermediate Points, Number, Angle

These parameters define the curving of the Spline. They provide different strategies of in-terpolation between the control points that actually define the Spline (vertices). For a de-tailed description of the interpolation strat-egies please refer to the section 7, chapter "Spline Primitives" in the CINEMA 4D documen-tation.

2.7 Variation

The Variation Object is used with multiplier Objects like Branch, Hydra or Phyllotaxis. It al-lows you to multiply different Subobjects with the same multiplier Object. The Object only works together with Xfrog Multiplier Objects.

The Variation Object is linked to the Multiplier Object and the Objects that are to be multi-plied are linked as children to the Variation Object. The multiplied Objects can alternate regularly, randomly and it is possible to assign exceptions for specific positions

In the example hierarchy below the Variation Object is used with the Hydra Object and mul-tiplies a Cube and a Sphere Object.


Object Properties

Type

This pulldown menu allows you to select from different ways of how the alternation between the multiplied Objects is calculated.

Sequential

Generates a sequential alternation between the multiplied Objects. In the case of our ex-ample it would create the following arrange-ment:

Spread

Distributes the instances one after the other evenly.

Random

Generates a randomly changing alternation of the multiplied Objects. As this alternation is based on a random seed value it is possible to reproduce random alternations. The first ex-ample picture shown above is an example for a random alternation.

Exception

Allows you to define one specific exception for one of the instances where the second of the Subobjects is used. The exception is defined numerically refering to the number of the mul-tiplication.


Random Seed

This parameter is only available when the "Type" parameter is set to "Random". It allows you to specify a number that is used as a basis to generate a random number. The seed value allows you to reproduce the arrangements that are created by the Variation Object.

Exception Number

This parameter is only available when the "Type" parameter is set to "Exception". It allows you to specify the number of a position where the second Subobject is instanced.

2.8 Tropism

The Tropism Object allows you to define force fields to bend splines into a certain direction. The Tropism Object can be used, for exam-ple, to bend splines towards a (fictitious) light source. This phenomenon is called phototro-pism. Likewise you can define a gravitropism which would cause the branches of a tree to hang down towards the ground as if they were attracted by the gravitation of the earth.

The Object is as a regular CINEMA 4D Deform-er Object (see CINEMA 4D manual, section 7.11) with the difference that it only influences splines. The Tropism is connected to the spline it is deforming. The following example shows a Tropism Object used to bend the branches of a tree towards a virtual light source.

The default setting of the Tropism Object di-rects the branches upwards, as if a virtual sun was right above the tree – in more technical terms: The Branches are pointing in the direc-tion of the positive Y-Axis.


Object Properties

Type

This pulldown menu allows you to switch be-tween two definitions of the force field.

Axis

Turns the deformed Spline in direction of one of the three axes of the coordinate system (see picture above). When you use the Axis setting together with a reference Object the Splines will be bent in the direction of the correspond-

It is possible to combine as many Tropism Ob-jects as you wish. The influence is added ac-cording to the order they are linked together: The first Tropism is applied first, etc.

The following example shows one Tropism Object set to "Point" Type combined with a sec-ond Tropism set to "Axis" Type (for a descrip-tion of the Types see the Object Properties sec-tion on the next page).


ing axis of the reference Object. This means when you rotate the reference Object the axis for the Tropism will be rotated as well.

Point

Bends the deformed Spline towards the posi-tion of another Object (in the example below it is a Sphere Object – but any Object in CINEMA 4D can be used). This option allows you to use a light source existing in your scene as the point towards which the Spline turns.

Reference

This field is used to define an arbitrary object as a reference for the force field. Grab the ref-erence Object in the Object Manager and drag it to the "Reference" field. The icon along with the Objects name will appear. If Type is set to Points the splines are bent towards the posi-tion of the reference object. If Type is set to Axis the splines are bent towards the respec-tive axis of the reference object.

Axis

This pulldown menu allows you to select the axis and direction into which the Splines turn when the Tropism Type is "Axis". The default value is +Y which bends the Spline in the posi-tive direction of the Y-Axis. In order to define a gravitropism, select -Y to cause the Spline to bend towards the negative direction of the Y-Axis.


Intensity

Specifies the intensity of the deformation. Assigning a positive value makes the Splines point into the specified direction, whereas negative values makes them point into the opposite direction. Setting beginning of the curve to a positive value and then, for the val-ues on the left side of the curve, to a negative value creates the very common phenomenon of a combination of Phototropism and Grav-itropism. At the beginning of the branches they point upwards as they grow towards the sun, while the ends of the branches point to the ground because they are thin and tend to hang down.

2.9 Import Settings

Xfrog 4 also adds an option to the "Import/Export Settings" in the "Edit/Preferences" Menu.

In order to provide compatibility to the stan-dalone versions of Xfrog (such as Xfrog 3.5) it is possible to read existing .xfr files into CIN-EMA 4D. However, as the model hierarchy is handled in a slightly different way in CINEMA 4D, you can control the way how the Xfrog hi-erarchy is interpreted and transformed into a CINEMA 4D hierarchy.

When you expand the "Import/Export Settiings" section you will see the "Xfrog 3.x Import" op-tions. If the classic Xfrog Plugin is installed as well as Xfrog 4, you can choose which plugin you want to use. We recommend currently for PC users that you install both the classic CINEMA 4D Xfr import plugin and Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D. With the combination of the two plugins, you can read any .xfr file, including animated ones. For Mac users (and PC users) all XfrogPlants CDs contain 60 .c4d models.


ModeXfrog 4 Objects

Converts the Components of the imported Xfrog 3.5 file into Xfrog 4 Objects. This option uses the new Xfrog 4 plugin and gives access to the Xfrog 4 functionality inside CINEMA 4D.

Classic Plugin Object (with Animation)

Uses the old Xfrog Plugin to import a Xfrog 3.5 file as a single Object. If the imported mo-del is animated, this animation is imported as well and will play back in CINEMA 4D.

Classic Polygon Mesh (no Animation)

Uses the old Xfrog Plugin to import a Xfrog 3.5 file as a polygon mesh. Animation is not imported.

MaterialsThis option allows you to specify som egeneral settings for the imported materials.

Use Circle Filter for Textures

Sets the interpolationfilter of the textures of the imported materials to Circle. A detailed of this filter can be found in the CINEMA 4D ma-nual in section 18.5.2.

Use Premultiplied Alpha Textures

Switches the Premultiplied channel of the im-ported textures on. See also CINEMA 4D ma-nual, section 18.6.2.

Override 'Multiply' Texture Mixing

Deactivates the "Multiply" option of the mix mode of imported textures. This can be helpful with textures that have a color assigned in ad-dition to the texture. See also CINEMA 4D ma-nual, section 18.5.2.

Use Sharp Alpha

Adjusts the Alpha channel in a way that its contour characterisitic is sharp. See also CINEMA 4D manual, section 18.6.1.

ObjectsThis option is available, when Xfrog 4 is used for import.

Scale

Allows to specify a scaling factor that defines the size of the imported model in CINEMA 4D.

Hierarchy Simplification

This option is available, when Xfrog 4 is used for import.

Always

This option will always interpret the Xfrog hi-erarchy in a way that the resulting CINEMA 4D hierarchy will be as simple as possible.

To give you an example for the simplification think about the following case: To create a sphere in Xfrog 3.5 you needed to create a Simple component and then assign a sphere primitive to it. In a strict translation to CIN-EMA 4D this would result in a Null Object and a sphere linked to it. As in most cases the Null Object is not needed, it will be removed by this import option.

Only when the addition of the transformation assigned to the Simple and its primitive would lead to a clearly wrong result, the separation of the two elements is preserved in the import.

Conservative

This option also tries to interpret the Xfrog 3.5 hierarchy in the simplest way. The dif-ference to the "always" option is – to use the same example case – that any time when dif-ferent translations are assigned to the Xfrog


component and its primitive the separation of the two will be preseved. This respects that in some cases the two elements get different translations assigned just for convenience of the workflow, although the shape of the mod-el is not influenced.

Off

This option imports the hierarchy in exactly the same way it used to be in Xfrog 3.x. The result-ing hierarchy might be a bit less elegant but the separation between primitives and compo-nents is maintained.

Circular Tube always as Circle

When this option is activated all "Tube" primiti-ves from Xfrog 3.x are imported as Circle Spli-nes. The "Tube" primitive is, when no manual changes of its profile were made, a circle. In most cases it is best replaced by the Circle Spli-ne when imported into Xfrog 4.

Use Perfect Spheres

CINEMA 4D makes a distinction between per-fect and normal spheres. The perfect spheres are rendered always in a perfectly round shape no matter what their segment resolution is. Normal spheres are dependent on the segment resolution. Similar to the Circle Spline men-tioned in the paragraph above, this option lets you define whether the "Sphere" primitive of Xfrog 3.x should be replaced by a perfect or a normal sphere when imported into Xfrog 4. By default the Xfrog 3.x "Sphere" primitive create a diamond-like shape. To import this shape as it was, the option needs to be deactivated.

Use Soft Insert

Activates the "Soft Insert" option for the Xfrog 4 objects that the imported model is translated into. Soft Insert smoothly fades additional ele-ments in or out when created during an ani-mation sequences.

Horn Spline as Cubic

Uses the original spline control points from Xfrog 3.5 with a cubic CINEMA 4D Spline. This may cause the spline to look slightly different from the original. When the option is deacti-vated, a linear Spline is used and the curving is reproduced as in the original. This may re-sult in a high amount of control points of the Spline and can be difficult to manipulate.

Tree Spline as Cubic

Uses the original spline control points from Xfrog 3.5 with a cubic CINEMA 4D Spline. Like with the "Horn" there might be certain differ-ences in comparison with the original. When the option is deactivated, a linear Spline is used and the shape is reproduced as in the original.

Tropism Import

In Xfrog 3.x tropisms were parameters inte-grated into the parameter sets of certain com-ponents. The Phototropism and the Gravitro-pism were available. In the translation to Xfrog 4 they can either be translated as two separate Tropism objects or as one.

Merge Tropisms

Gravitropism and Phototropism are merged into one single separate Tropism Object.

Separate Tropisms

Gravitropism and Phototropism are translated into two separate Tropism Objects.


3. Xfrog 4 and CINEMA 4DThis chapter will provide some tips on how to make the best out of the combination of CINEMA 4D and Xfrog 4.

3.1 Controlling Level Of DetailOften when you build complex models there is a need to have it generated with different De-tail so an Object which is small on the screen or in the background doesn‘t use as many Po-lygons as your Hero Objects in the foreground.

CINEMA 4D has a Level Of Detail (LOD) System built in and the Xfrog Objects make use of this and also provide their own means of Polygon Reduction. There are two global Level Of De-tail values defined for the Scene, one for the Viewports and one for Rendering. The Level Of Detail Value is a percentage (initially 100%) which is passed to every Object at generation time, it is up to the Object how to make use of it. Be aware that some Objects may not make any use of it at all or depending on certain Object Settings. It is also worth noting that the Level Of Detail Value may exceed 100%. The Level Of Detail for the Viewports can be set in the Display Menu of each Viewport (see Screenshot), the Render LOD can be set on the Render Preferences Panel.

To account for Level Of Detail Procedural Ob-jects usually internally vary Parameters con-nected to their visual fidelity. A Sphere Object for example internally varies the Number of Segments if the LOD is different from 100%, Spline Curves vary their Intermediate Points Settings. The Screenshots show examples of a Sphere and a Spline Object at 100%, 50% and 25% Level Of Detail.

Xfrog Objects can directly make use of this. When the Input Splines for a Branch Compo-nent automatically reduce their Level Of Detail the simplified Objects automatically get used to generate the Mesh. To see the effect have a look at the Wireframe of an example Branch Component below at 100%, 50% and 25% Le-vel Of Detail. Some Xfrog Objects are able to react directly to Level Of Detail, see the Object Descriptions for more details.


Instead of setting a Level Of Detail globally, you can also specify a Level Of Detail for every Object in the Scene separately. To control the Level Of Detail of an Object you have to assign a "Display Tag" to the Object by right-clicking on the Object in the Object Manager and choosing "New Tag/Display Tag". In the Display Tag Properties activate the "Use" Checkbox in front of the "Level Of Detail" Value to manipu-late that value for the Object the Tag is applied to and all of its Subobjects (if they don‘t have a Display Tag on their own).

This Level Of Detail value can be edited and animated like any other parameter in CINEMA 4D, but you may want to have your LOD con-trolled by the distance of the Object to the Ca-mera. This can easily be archived by setting up a simple XPresso Expression. To do so, apply an XPresso Tag to the Object you want to con-trol the LOD of by right-clicking on the Object in the Object Manager, then selecting "New Expression/XPresso Expression".

The XPresso Editor should open up right away, (later you can open it by double-clicking on the XPresso Tag). Drag the Object you want to control the LOD of (a Branch Object in this example), its Display Tag and the Object you want to use the distance of (Camera) into the XPresso Editor. If, like in this example, your Level Of Detail is somehow controlled by a Ca-


mera, you need to check the "Camera Depen-dent" Checkbox in the Properties Panel of the XPresso Tag!

Now we want to use the Distance between Camera and Branch Object to Control the LOD Value in the Display Tag. For that purpose you need to drag two more nodes into the XPresso Editor. Select the X-Pool Tab on the left side of the XPresso Editor and look for the nodes "System Operators/XPresso/Calculate/Distance" and "System Operators/XPresso/Calculate/Range Mapper" and drag them both into the Editor.

The next step is to connect all these nodes. The Branch and Camera Objects don't have

any Output yet and we need the position of both to calculate their distance. To create an output port left-click the red rectangle in the upper right of the Branch Node and Choose "Coordinates/Global Position/Global Position". Do the same for the Camera Object. The Dis-play Object needs the LOD Value to be availab-le as input port. Click the blue rectangle in the upper left of the Display Tag Node and choose: "Tag Properties/Level of Detail".

To connect the ports click on one of the ports and drag the connection line to the port you want to connect it to. Use this to connect the Position of Branch and Camera with Input 1 and Input 2 of the Distance Node, the Output of the Distance Node with the Input of the Range Mapper and the Output of the Range Mapper with the Level Of Detail of the Display Node. Congratulations! Your XPresso Expressi-on is now up and running.

The only thing that remains is using the Range Mapper for fine tuning. For this step, click on the Range Mapper, which will let its properties show up in the Attribute Editor. The purpose of the Range Mapper is to decide what LOD value you want to get used at what distance. At first set the "Output Range" to "Percent".


"Input Lower" and "Input Upper" are the mi-ninum and maximum distances in-between which you want your LOD to change. Choo-se a distance value for the camera at which you want a LOD of 100% and enter it as "In-put Lower" and enter a distance at which you want your LOD to be reduced to a minimum as "Input Upper". A good value to start with is around twice the height of your object as "Input Lower" and five to ten times as much as "Input Upper". You'll probably need some tweaking to achieve good results.

"Output Lower" and "Output Upper" are the LOD values the Range Mapper fit inside of. Currently it would create an LOD of 0% at mi-nimum distance and an LOD of 100% at ma-ximum distance which is the opposite of what you want. You may also not want to go all the

way down to a LOD of 0%, 10% is usually a better minimum. To archive this set "Output Lower" to 100% and "Output Upper" to 10%.

You may want to use the "Clamp Lower" and "Clamp Upper" checkboxes to limit the LOD to the range you specified (10%-100%), other-wise these values may be exceeded if the distance between your objects is not in the range specified by "Input Lower" and "Input Upper".

With the Spline Curve you can also create a nonlinear transition between the LOD values while the camera moves away. When a came-ra moves away from an object at a constant speed, the objects size on screen is reduced faster at the beginning and slower at the end. You can account for this with your LOD. To do so left-click several times somewhere into the spline window to create control points (9 times is good), then right click and choose "Root".

When you now move the Camera Object around, the Level Of Detail of the Object is dynamically updated based on distance. Ple-ase refer to the appropriate sections in the CINEMA 4D Manual for more information on Level Of Detail and XPresso.


3.2 Detail Editing of ObjectsThe great power of Xfrog lies in its capabili-ty to control complex structures with a small number of parameters. When you create a tree you are not dealing with every branch separatly but controling the entire branching level with one set of parameters. This allows of course for a quick and simple editing process – but there are also the cases where you have an already very convincing tree that is basically satisfying all your needs, except that you want this one branch to be longer and curved in a different way. This is possible when you choo-se the option "Make Editable" in the "Objects" menu of the Object Manager. This option con-verts the parametrically defined Branch Object (the function works with any parametrical Object - the Branch Object is only used as an example) into a polygonal Object that is defi-ned by the points of its polygon mesh (more information on this function is available in the CINEMA 4D manual in the section called "Make Editable").

The points of the converted Object can then be edited independently as in the example below:

Example of a Branch Object that is converted into the polygonal formatand then edited with the Magnet tool.

As the parametrical Object looses its parame-trical definition through this conversion you loose the possibility to edit the Object through these parameters. This is an irreversible pro-cess.

Looking at the Branch Object as an example, this means that you have to start the conversi-on process at the very top of the hierarchy and then move down to the linked Objects. This approach preserves the shape of your model because the parameters that would normally be directly transmitted to the next Object are stored in a specific tag, the Xfrog Data Tag. This Tag contains the data which is normally passed from the parent to the child and makes them available to the child Object although they are not transmitted from the parent any-more. It is necessary that you work from the top of the hierarchy down to the subsequent Objects because otherwise the Xfrog Data Tag cannot be generated correctly and the shape of the tree gets altered.


After the conversion of the Branch Object into a polygon mesh the subsequent Branch Object instances are represented as separate objects instead of one single Branch Object describing the whole branching level.

The first Branch Object is converted into a po-lygon mesh and all instances of the child ob-ject are represented separatly

As only the first Branch Object is converted the subsequent Objects remain in their para-metrical description. They can still be edited parametrically and each Object can be edited indepent from the other Obejcts on the same branching level.


3.3 Using Prefabricated Model PartsWith the Library Browser, CINEMA 4D provides a powerful tool to optimize your workflow. It gives you access to often used scenes, materi-als, textures, pictures, etc. (more information about this Browser can be found in the C4D manual).

As certain structures, like hierarchies with se-veral Branch Objects linked together, often reappear in Xfrog models, it is useful to build a library of prefabricated generic parts that you can easily recombine to create new models. With the Xfrog 4 CDs we include a collection of prefabricated generic parts that you can use to quickly build your own models.

Just drag one of the icons in the Browser into the Object Manager and the hierarchy of this model part will appear in your scene.

When you drag another Model part from the Browser into the Object Manager and link it to the correct position of the first part it is possible to create a wonderful flower in just two steps. Based on this scene you can play with the parameters and add more Objects to create the specific species that you need.


4 Using FunctionsFunctions can be used in Xfrog 4 to achieve some specific shapes and effects. It is possible to use functions with all parameters that are defined with a curve. Functions can be entered in the Function field in the subchannels of such a parameter. The examples below show the Thickness parameter of the Branch Object.

The pictures above show the function "id" (identity), which uses the x values defined by the Thickness curve identically as they are shown in the curve.

The pictures above show the function "cos", which uses the x values defined by the Thick-ness curve as the input for a cosine function (a graph of the cosine function is shown on the next page) and calculates the thickness of the Branch Object based on this function. The nor-mal syntax for functions would require to in-sert the x, representing the value of the thick-ness curve: cos(x). In the case where a function is used alone and does not have any additional terms, the "(x)" expression can be omitted.


The pictures above show again the cosine function. In this expression the function uses an additional term to multiply the cos(x) by 5. In combinations of several terms it is necessary to write the whole expression of the function including the "x" parameter.

Besides the "x" variable it is possible to refer to values like the iteration number of Objects that are multiplied by a multiplier Object ("i") or the amount of child objects of the parent Object ("n"). Below you find an example for the use of "i" and "n" together to achieve certain mod-eling effects. In this example the expression i/n*x is applied to the Rotation X parameter to produce the following shape with a gradually changing curvature.

The function is applied to the Curvature Spline defining the bending of the tentacles made with a Branch Object.


In the Animation context it is of great interest to include time into your functions. This is pos-sible with the variable "t", refering to the time in seconds or with "f" referring to the frame number.

The Example below shows a Branch Object that uses "t" to calculate the rotation in the y-axis. In order to produce a visible effect we also set the Rotation X parameter of the Spline controlling the bending of the Branch Object.

The following pages show all functions that are provided in Xfrog 4 with their graphs and their definition-ranges. The functions can be assigned to all parameters that are defined by a curve. Functions change the calculation of the intermediate values between the control points of the curve.

A certain mathematical understanding is re-quired to predict the result of the use of func-tions in a given context. Functions allow you to define shapes with "mathematical perfection". Certain functions are only defined within a cer-tain range of input values and deliver no useful result beyond this definition range. The follow-ing graphs will give you an idea in which way the different functions remap the values of the sliders they are assigned to and within which range of values they are defined. The Input values specify the range of values that can be passed to the function and the Output values specify the range of values that are returned by the function.

Variables:

Variables refer to certain values that can be used as the basis for further calculations. The basic variable is "x", which is referring to the values defined by the parameters curve (in our example the thickness curve). Other vari-ables can refer to the time and allow you to integrate functions into your animations to achieve specific effects.

x – refers to the current value of the curve

t – refers to the animation time in seconds

f – refers to the frame number

i – refers to the number of the iteration of a multiplied Object (e.g. the third instance)

n – refers to the amount of child Objects of the parent Object


Functions:

Function: idDescription: identityLeaves the values unchanged (y = x)

Function: y = sin xDescription: sineInput values: -∞ to ∞Output values: - 1 to 1

Function: y = cos xDescription: cosineInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - 1 to 1

Function: y = tan xDescription: tangentInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Function: y = asin xDescription: arc sineInput values: - 1 to 1Output values: - π to π

Function: y = acos xDescription: arc cosineInput values: - 1 to 1Output values: - π to π

Function: y = atan xDescription: arc tanInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - π/2 to π/2


Function: y = sinh xDescription: sine hyperbolicInput values: - 1 to 1Output values: - π to π

Function: y = cosh xDescription: cosine hyperbolicInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = tanh xDescription: tangent hyperbolicInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - 1 to 1

Function: y = exp xDescription: exponentialfunction to basis e=2.7182818Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = log xDescription: logarithm tobasis e=2.7182818Input values: 0 to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Function: y = sqr xDescription: square x (x2)Input values: - 1 to 1Output values: 0 to π


Function: y = sqrt xDescription: square root of xInput values: 0 to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = ceil xDescription: the smallest integergreater or equal than xInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Function: y = floor xDescription: the greatest integersmaller or equal than xInput values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Function: y = rnd xDescription: random number between [-x..x]Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = rndabs xDescription: x*abs(rnd(1))Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = abs xDescription: abs(x)Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = rad xDescription: x*3.1415927/180Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

56 Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D

Function: y = phi xDescription: x*1.618034Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Function: y = smooth xDescription: smooth clamp in 0..1Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = clamp xDescription: clamp in 0..1Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: 0 to ∞

Function: y = pi xDescription: x*3.1415927Input values: - ∞ to ∞Output values: - ∞ to ∞

Documents

Xfrog 4 plugin manua#C00B0 · 6 Xfrog 4 for CINEMA 4D 7 1.1 What's New The What's new section is intended for users of Xfrog 3.5 and earlier releases, as a list of the new features